When the stars align.
I decided to bird at Dairy Farm Nature Park on Sunday as my legs were still exhausted from the trek to Jelutong Tower the day before.
I arrived to a huge flock of Asian Glossy Starlings and Pink-necked Green Pigeons roosting on the canopy of the forest. The Straw-headed Bulbul was also calling from somewhere nearby but unfortunately I could not find it.
I waited at the observation deck for a bit and walked the Wallace Trail but hardly saw any birds. I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be one of those dry, unproductive days of birding. At least, this Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo ensured that I will not return home empty-handed today.
And then, the stars aligned. As I was turning to the path that loops back to the Wallace Education Centre, I spotted something foraging on the ground. It was an Orange-headed Thrush.
The bird paid no heed to me. It went about it’s way foraging for bugs and worms on the forest floor. Occasionally, it would turn over a leaf to check what’s underneath. Sometimes it would hide in the bushes by the side when there were people passing by but it came out again when the coast was clear.
After about an hour of observing the bird, it hopped off the path toward the forest and disappeared. I waited for an hour hoping to get better shots of the bird as the lighting improved but it never came out again.
While waiting, I observed another small bird flying around the bushes. To my surprise, it was a Green-backed Flycatcher. I’ve mainly observed flycatchers darting around high on a tree (which is a nightmare to photograph). To find one that was quite chill and at eye level was truly a stroke of luck.
eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S293600986
The Salaryman Birder 
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